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Located in Farmbrook Medical Bldg. 22 FRIDAY, JUNE 3, 1988 Crisis Continued from preceding page fall should be allocated primariy to Jewish education. For example, every Jewish community would be able to provide tuition-free, universal Jewish education to any child, regardless of the finan- cial status of the parents and without any means test. This would apply to any type of Jewish education, including day schools, Jewish camps,• Talmud-Torah, synagogue schools and Israel programs. Tuition for adult Jewish students would be free or heavily subsidized by the federations (up to 75 percent), with no means test involved. And salaries for Jewish- Hebrew studies teachers, principals, and ad- ministrators would be significantly increased, in- cluding security and retire- ment benefits, in order to at- tract the best possible staff. Funds also could be used to improve services to the Jewish elderly, including housing, home care, advice and counseling, meals and visitation. The Jewish children's and family services programs could be strengthened and expanded to include more outreach and increased staff. These are only a few of the possible uses for increased federation funds. Even if the educational goals were the only ones fulfilled, they would bolster the future growth and Jewish enrichment of the community. In the long run, Israel wold probably benefit, with one of these benefits be- ing increased aliyah. And Americans could stop schnor- ring from each other on behalf of Israel. - The aftermath of such a development would be dramatic. The Jewish Agency, dependent on federation-UJA- United Israel Appeal funds for its survival, probably would wither or cease to ex- ist. The overlapping of func- tions of the various ministries of the Israeli government and the Jewish Agency depart- ment also would disappear. Aliyah probably would be handled by the Ministry of Immigration and Absorption, Rural Development by the Ministry of Agriculture, and Youth Aliyah by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. There would no longer be a government within the government. The political appointees from the World Zionist Organization would have no fiefdom to rule and fight over and no quasi- ministerial trappings to enjoy. But most of all, Israel and Diaspora Jews could begin a healthy partnership which would substitute educational cooperation, economic in- vestments, • and welfare pro- jects for a charity relationship. Federation executives and leaders surely will object to the option of "keeping the money at home," fearing that without the Israeli motive, people will lose incentive to give and the local pot will shrink dramatically. I can on- ly urge greater efforts to ex- plain the deep crisis in local Jewish needs and the fight for cultural survival. More difficult will be the revolution in Israel-Diaspora ties, which requires both part- ners to redefine their view of themselves and their pragmatic relationship. Such an effort is long overdue and very badly needed. Assuming that Jews abroad will not relinquish a central fund-raising effort for Israel, how could the Israel-bound funds be put to the best possi- ble use? A minimal change would be to salvage the Jewish Agen- cy by restructing it to have a majority of non-political, donor, and Israeli represen- tatives on all the governing bodies. The Jewish Agency should get out of the business of pro- viding social services. It should have been disbanded after the establishment of the state in 1948, or in 1967, when the government and in- digenous non-profit agencies should have taken over the functions of its various departments. Unfortunately, social plan- ning and service delivery are not the most relevant variables when evaluating the raison d'etre of the Jewish Agency. Israeli political economic interests firmly con- trol Diaspora charity. This is coupled with the stubborn in- sistence of Diaspora leaders to cling to the Agnecy as "the principal link between Israel and the Diaspora com- munities." The combination has kept the Agency alive. For the Diaspora leaderships, the Agency is the next best thing to a Jewish international "parliament," and it allows them personal and political involvement in Israeli affairs. Let there be no mistake: The Jewish Agency is primarily the product of American Jewish donor leadership, which maintains it in the name of philanthropy for Israel but needs it as a manifestation of its own status hierachy. Unfortunately, the bulk of UJA donors ahve no insight into this labyrinth, were never asked how they wanted 4 -4 • -4 I 4